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• Plastic behavior of foam-filled sandwich beams with circular tube core under transverse loading is studied. • Analytical model for the plastic behavior of the foam-filled sandwich beam with circular tube core is developed. • Analytical results are in good agreement with numerical ones. • Load-carrying capacity of sandwich beams increase with increase of foam strength, face-sheet thickness, tube-wall thickness. Under transverse loading, the plastic behaviour of the foam-filled sandwich beam with circular tube core is researched by numerical and analytical ways in this paper. The yield condition of the foam-filled sandwich section with circular tube core is proposed firstly. Based on the yield condition, the analytical model for the plastic behaviour of the foam-filled sandwich beam with circular tube core under transverse loading is developed, in consideration of the interaction of stretching and bending moment and the strength effect. To make ensure the correctness of the analytical model, the finite element analysis is carried out, and the analytical results are in good agreement with numerical ones. On the basis, the influences of structural and material parameters about load-bearing ability and energy-absorbing ability of foam-filled sandwich beams with circular tube core are discussed by analytical solutions. The results show that, with the increase of foam strength, face-sheet thickness, tube-wall thickness and the width of punch, the load-bearing ability and energy-absorbing ability of the foam-filled sandwich beams with circular tube core increase. In addition, when the loading location is close to the clamped end, the load-bearing ability and energy-absorbing ability of the foam-filled sandwich beam with circular tube core increases significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]